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I’m excited to announce that Mochimochi Land is coming to YarnCon, the Chicago indie fiber fair, April 6th and 7th! ⁣

A big slice of Mochimochi Land itself will be there (with plenty of updates and surprises), along with kits for sale at a special discount, books, and other goodies. And YarnCon’s marketplace is free to enter, so I hope to see lots of my Chicago neighbors there! ⁣

Make March magical by knitting a tiny leprechaun, tiny pot o’ gold, tiny rainbow, and a rather normal-sized four-leaf clover for St. Patricks Day or just for a little luck! So gather your scraps of green yarn and celebrate the imminent-ness of spring!

Final ball count: 2,383!

The Knit Ball Pit accomplished its first mission at Vogue Knitting LIVE in NYC last weekend: serving soft, squishy, massage-y experiences to all who ventured to enter it! We had many takers of all ages—check out all the #knitballpit posts for more photos and videos of this interactive exhibit.

Anna with Tanya Weaver of AFCA

After a thorough cleaning, the balls will go on to their next adventure with the American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA). Tanya Weaver, founder of AFCA, visited the ball pit herself and shared more about the amazing work her organization is doing in Congo, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. AFCA will use the balls as packing materials when they send medical supplies to their partner hospitals (we love this!), and the balls will be distributed to kids receiving treatment for HIV and to AIDS orphans throughout this year and beyond.

To those of you who sent in balls from all over the world, thank you for making this project such a success! If you didn’t have a chance to participate and would still like to contribute, you can donate funds directly to AFCA, or you can organize another group knitting project directly through them. (See contact info on their website.)

This project was a success beyond my wildest expectations—it’s truly magical what knitters and crocheters can do when we put our needles to work together. I would love to do another group project again in the future, whether with a charity connection or just for fun and happiness-spreading, but first I want to take some time to celebrate this one and recover. Because of all the energy and organization (very worthwile!) that this project took, I’m probably going to hold off on doing a photo and video contest this year, but will probably bring it back in 2020. In the meantime, I’ve got lots of other fun stuff planned for the rest of 2019, so please stay tuned!

I recently got to work with Nick Jr to make little knit versions of the characters from their series Top Wing!

This was my first time knitting an entire project on camera. I was actually sweating bullets throughout, even though I knew it would be sped up and wouldn’t really matter if I made a mistake.

This video shows me knitting Swift—figuring out how to do the color work on his head was the biggest challenge. I got to knit all four main characters, so there are more of these to coming to Nick Jr’s social media!

Happy New Year! 2019 is starting off right, because we made it to 1,000 balls in the knit ball pit, hoorayyyyy!

This is how it looked this morning in the shiny new inflatable pit.

We’re actually at 1380 balls right now, with more packages yet to be opened, and with even more expected to be added at Vogue Knitting LIVE later this month in NYC. Whew! I’ll be happy to receive them all, and at this point I think we can say the knit ball pit will be big enough that we no longer need to ask for donations. Instead, anyone who would still like to get involved can donate money directly to the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, who will be distributing the balls after Vogue Knitting LIVE to some very special kids in Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Thank you for being a part of Mochimochi Land this year! We wish you sweet holiday memories that you will treasure forever. And may all your dreams come true in 2019!

Please enjoy these adorable Sugarplum-themed poems that resulted from a little Instagram contest earlier this month.

From @ladyaxolotl:
🎶 Round ‘n’ plump with a squishy little bum, you can’t get much cuter than a fairy sugarplum! 🎶⁣
⁣From @gnomadknits: I do so love the sugarplums
That dance around my brain
Reminding me of olden days
I long for so again⁣
⁣From @baller_fern: Plum, Plum, Fairie bum,⁣
Dainty little tidbit.⁣
This wee gem could be yours too,⁣
If only you could knit!⁣
⁣From @skaempferland:

There was a wee sugary plum
who partook of a wee bit of rum
both pickled and candied
she retired feeling dandy
but awoke hugging some fellow‘s thumb!⁣

I saw the best plums of my generation inspired by kindness, loving cheerful happy,⁣
⁣
flying themselves through the knitting community at dawn sharing a peaceful gift,⁣
⁣
angelheaded hipsters basking in the ancient human caring connection to the starry happiness in the community of love.⁣

Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi Sugarplum Fairies are ready to be knitted by you for all the darlings on your list. 💜

This pattern automatically comes FREE with any purchase worth $5 or more from the Mochimochi Shop through January 1st!
No need to add it to your cart—a link to download the pattern will be emailed to you within 24 hours of your purchase.

This is a seamless, intermediate-level pattern that incorporates I-cord, a little simple embroidery, and simple stitching. The fairies knit up fast for ornaments, garlands, and more, for perfect little last-minute hand-knitted gifts!

Psst! Sugarplum Fairies would make excellent Knit Ball Pit balls if made with worsted-weight yarn!